Institute for the equality of women and men

The mission of the Institute for the equality for women and men, which was created in December 2002, is to guarantee and promote the equality of women and men and to fight against any form of discrimination and inequality based on gender in all aspects of life through the development and implementation of an adequate legal framework, appropriate structures, strategies, instruments and actions.

The Institute for the equality of women and men

undertake, develop, support and co-ordinate studies and research in the field of gender and equality of women and men as well as to assess the impact in terms of gender, of policies, programmes and measures;

address recommendations to the public authorities with a view to improving the relevant laws and regulations;

address recommendations to the public authorities as well as to individuals and private institutions on the basis of the results of the studies and research described under point 1;

organise the support offered to associations working in the field of equality between women and men, or projects aiming at achieving equality between women and men;

help, within the limits of its goal, any person requesting advice on the scope of his/her rights and obligations. This assistance enables its beneficiary to obtain information and advice on the possible ways to have his/her rights enforced;

take legal action in the case of disputes resulting from the application of criminal and other laws, specifically aimed at guaranteeing the equality of women and men;

draft and provide any information, documents and archives that might be useful within the limits of its mission;

without any possibility of identifying the parties, statistics and jurisdictional decisions that might be useful to assess the laws and regulations relating to gender equality gather and issue;

ask the competent authorities, when the Institute evokes facts that give reason to presume the existence of discriminatory treatment as provided by the laws and regulations relating to the equality of women and men, to gather information and to inform the latter of the result of the analysis of the facts in question;

to set up a network with the various key players in the field of gender equality.

We aim to expand our English website in the future. In the meantime, please consult the Dutch or the French website for further information about the Institute.